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Tuesday, May 03, 2011

Today I heard a Holocaust survivor cry

BY RENA

Why do so many right wing charedim insist on not acknowledging Yom Hashoah? The few who do acknowledge it only do so to make everyone aware of the reasons there should not be a day set aside to remember the Holocaust.

I read a blog post on just that yesterday. The blogger writes how pathetic it is that people think they are doing something great by updating their Facebook statuses to reflect their thoughts on Yom Hashoah. According to this blogger, none of us really care and none of the Holocaust survivors are around anymore (or if they are, they are all in nursing homes and not mentally of aware of what's going on anymore), so why are we all pretending to care? Then this pompous ignoramus goes on to congratulate himself for at least acknowledging that he doesn't have it in him to really care, and since the fact that he doesn't care bothers him, somehow that makes him better than all the Facebookers out there who took "6 precious seconds... away from using Facebook".

For starters, I have three grandparents alive who are holocaust survivors, and they are all of sound mind and clearly remember what they went through. I absolutely do care, but there is not that much that most of us can do other than remembering the atrocities that took place. And the best way to do that is to have a special day set aside to remember.

Today I saw a beautifully heartbreaking presentation about Yom Hashoah at a Modern Orthodox school. Students and parents alike were all moved as together we all remembered and honored those who perished in or survived the horror. I feel confident saying that 99% of Bais Yaakov students are not even aware that today is Holocaust Remembrance day.

Today I heard a Holocaust survivor cry as he said Kaddish and sang Kel Malei Rachamim.

If it relates to Jews, Judaism, holidays, Midrash,Torah, halacha or anything similar, I probably have a post on it. And if I have a post on it, I probably have a good comment thread with great reader-provided information, too.

Try a search and see for yourself. If you can't find what you're looking for ask me.

Quotes

רֹאשׁ דְּבָרְךָ אֱמֶת קוֹרֵא מֵרֹאשׁ דּוֹר וָדוֹר עַם דּוֹרֶשְׁךָ דְּרֹשׁ
Your chief word is "truth"; You've called it out since the beginning. In each generation people interpret You [for themselves] and find [their own] meaning.

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd. -Flannery O'Connor

“When in the afterglow of religious insight I can see a way that is good for all humans as it is for me—I will know it is His way.” - R. Abraham Joshua Heschel

I don't accept at all the quite popular argument that the press is responsible for the monarchy's recent troubles. The monarchy's responsible for the monarchy's recent troubles. To blame the press is the old thing of blaming the messenger for the message. -Anthony Holden

Said behind my back

"...he's trying to show that there are other facets to Orthodox Judaism. That we don't all think one way and vote one way. And he's occasionally entertaining when he's not being mean-spirited" [PsychoToddler]"

"He's witty. He's funny. He appreciates the ridiculous in life, and has no qualms about telling you when he thinks that you're being a moron" [Cara]

" I'm pretty sure [DovBear] is a really great guy who just wants to be able to ask questions and talk about things without the fear of someone claiming he's off the derech or on his way there." [Chaviva]